Settle Your Minds

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“They will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name's sake. This will be your opportunity to bear witness.” This is what is coming to you, declares the Lord. You will be delivered over to those who hate you, and brought before those who ridicule you for the sake of Christ. This will be your opportunity to bear witness.

Bearing witness will not be fun. It will not be easy. It will not win you any popularity contests in the public square. Bearing witness to the Truth in the midst of a world of lies and deception is hazardous to your health.

Let me tell you the story of a young man named Ivan. Ivan was a soldier in the Red Army of the USSR in 1970. And Ivan was a Christian. He was not shy about his faith. Ivan was a dutiful soldier and an honorable citizen, even in the midst of a thoroughly disrespectable society.

Whose Is She?

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship” (2 Thess. 2:3-4). The son of destruction will be revealed at the coming of the Lord in His kingdom. This is promised by the Holy Spirit, as recorded by St. Paul.

And so it happens. The man of lawlessness is revealed. The son of destruction comes to light. Sometimes he ventures into the light all on his own, as though he could get away with mischief in broad daylight. Other times he sneaks out under the cover of some shadow, some ruse that he thinks will cloak him with stealth, so that he can lead off captive the sons of light.

The Sadducees are the face and the mouthpiece of the son of destruction in today's text. But they are not alone. The Pharisees and scribes are right there alongside them on the Temple Mount. The Herodians have just finished trying to trick the Lord of Glory with their false questions. Read through all of Luke chapter 20, and you might marvel at how the devil can unite such diverse and ordinarily opposed people and groups in the effort to unseat the Lord of Hosts.

Change, Or Not

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Congregations, like human beings, grow old. A large congregation once filled these pews. You may become nostalgic for the olden day. A century ago people walked to church, walked to work, walked to school, walked to the store. Now we drive everywhere.

A photograph taken of the congregation from the pulpit today would be different from a picture taken ten years ago. A picture taken from the back pews toward the chancel would be just as different. Faces you thought you would never forget have slipped over the cliff of your memory. If “all the world is a stage” where we all are actors, so is the church.

Pastors and people are constantly changing, but Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Since the Church is His Body, she also stays the same. Perhaps a church that advertises itself as “contemporary” is no church at all. The true Church has one Baptism and she partakes of the one spiritual food in the Holy Sacrament. She reads the same Scriptures, hears the same Gospel, and sings the same liturgies and hymns. St. Paul said that there is one Church, one Spirit, one Lord Jesus, and one God and Father of all.

What Does Christ Say?

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Today we observe Reformation Day, one of the festivals completely unique to Lutheranism. But what is it we commemorate on this day? Historically, we commemorate the supposed posting of the 95 Theses by Martin Luther on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg. But so what? What is the heritage that we, who bear the name Lutheran, have inherited from this event nearly five hundred years ago?

The heritage we celebrate today is nothing short of our identity. Consider this – what is a Lutheran? Simply an adherent to Martin Luther's teaching?

Faithful Lutherans are those who remain steadfastly in the Word of the Lord, standing with Martin Luther and confessing with him: “Holy Scripture and God's Word should be the empress that man follows directly and should obey what it says, and speak no word against it; for it is the mouth of God” (Erlangen 61:107).

God-Breathed and Useful

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” Great news. We like things that are profitable, things that are useful, things that have value and purpose. So it is good news when the Apostle tells us that all Scripture is profitable. And it is even God-breathed – inspired, as some translations render it.

Indeed, all Scripture is God-breathed, God-inspired. All Scripture is breathed out by God, because all Scripture is about God. Jesus is the sum total and the content of the Scriptures. The Law and the Psalms and the Prophets all testify of Him and His saving promises to the children of Israel. The Gospels and the Epistles and all the historical books all record the mighty acts of the Lord for His people. All Scripture is God-breathed, because all Scripture is God, enrobed in the mask of ordinary human words and phrases and sentences and grammar. And therefore, because God is true, faithful, and unchanging, so also is His Word always true, faithful, and unchanging. The Word of the Lord remains forever.

“The Hand of the Lord Has Gone Out Against Me”

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Naomi had a rough go of things. She and her husband had picked up and moved from Israel to Moab because of the drought and famine, leaving their family, their inheritance, and their way of life to cross the Jordan into a foreign land with a strange people and pagan gods. Then they got there and settled down and attempted to make a life for themselves. Their sons even married Moabite women. But then first Naomi's husband died, and then both her sons died, without leaving any children.

Naomi was stuck. Without a husband or sons to provide for her, she was bankrupt. Without a people or inheritance, she had no place and no living. And besides that, she had her daughters-in-law also to provide for. The pleasant things in her life had become bitter – hence her name change. She had lost the things she held most dear, and so she cried out, “The hand of the Lord has gone out against me!”

"If You Had Faith"

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

How many of you are of like mind? Chances are, not many, if any at all. Being of like mind is not something that happens much these days. In fact, in some circles, it is labeled as conformity, groupthink, or mindlessness. One might argue that it is the American way to be un-like-minded, to intentionally hold thoughts and opinions contrary to the rest.

It has been asserted in various contexts that the Church is merely a voluntary association of like-minded individuals, coming together around a common cause. If that is the case, then we should consider the Masonic Lodge, the AARP, the Farm Bureau, and a great many other organizations to be Church. After all, they are all voluntary associations of like-minded individuals.